142. Skip the Cleaning Aisle: DIY easy green clean recipes

August 10, 2015August 14, 2015 / Apple Hill Cottage / 4 Comments

Earlier this summer several of us were cleaning a commercial kitchen at a children’s camp before camp started for the summer.

There was a lot of grease… everywhere.

My friend Joey introduced me to her recipe for an all-purpose cleaner that cuts grease better than the expensive, commercial, stinky stuff that contains “who knows what unpronounceable ingredients.”

I had been using a natural cleanser of my own — orange vinegar, sometimes with baking soda — which I like a lot, but this one is way better! I liked it so much, I went to the dollar store and bought my own clean spray bottle for it, instead of just using a hand-me-down bottle.

All-Purpose Cleaner and Degreaser:

1 teaspoon washing soda (not baking soda)
2 teaspoons Borax
1 teaspoon Castile liquid soap
2 cups hot water
10 – 15 drops essential oil (Good oils for cleaning use are cinnamon, lemon, orange, melaleuca, peppermint, and lavender.)

Mix all the ingredients and pour into a 16 ounce spray bottle, and get to work on that greasy stove top.

Green cleaning

Dishwasher Detergent

I’ve been using a green cleaner in my dishwasher, but I really don’t like it much. The glasses are cloudy when they come out, and the silverware doesn’t always get clean, even though I rinse my dishes in hot water before I load the dishwasher. I know it’s a waste of water, but I don’t want food collecting in the bottom of my dishwasher. And that’s the bottom line.

So I was delighted when I found this oh-so-simple recipe for dishwasher soap. I remember reading that homemade dishwasher soap was an issue, because Mother-in-Laws come to your house and inspect your glasses for spots. Well, guess what? This is a mother-in-law proof recipe! Here’s my glass bowl, fresh out of the rinse cycle.

Dishwasher Detergent:

One part Borax
One part washing soda
White vinegar in the rinse-aid compartment

We have city water and I’ve used washing soda with great success. I have also heard that citric acid is a great addition to the rinse aid compartment if you have sediment on your plastic ware. But even the commercial dishwashing detergents leave sediment on my plastic stuff, and that’s just one more reason for getting rid of your plastic stuff. If you have citric acid, by all means try some with the vinegar. I was so astounded at how well this worked that I’m not going to bother with it. (If you are someone who wants research behind this, you can go to the blog post “10 things you should know before making homemade dishwasher detergent” by Little House in the Suburbs. Or you can just make this recipe, and be amazed that it’s so simple, and it works so well. Now if only I could discover a shampoo that is so simple and works so well…

Disinfectant

And here’s one more cleaner I love to spray on my countertops — both wood and soapstone. It is also a disinfectant, so it’s good for sinks and toilets too. And it is reputed to keep ants away. I can’t say about this for sure. What I can say is that it might work. I sprayed around Henry the Cat’s food bowl when I started seeing ants there, and now the ants are gone. But I’m also being careful to keep it cleaner and his food swept up better. Not only is he the King of Cats, he is the King of Slobs when it comes to the food bowl department.

Cinnamon Disinfectant:

12 oz. hydrogen peroxide
1 teaspoon cinnamon oil

Mix together in a spray bottle and shake well before every use. I use a bottle that has a mister option, and I love this cleaner for two reasons: the cinnamon in it smells terrific, and the peroxide in it foams up on contact with dirt, so you can tell it’s working. Use an opaque spray bottle — there’s a reason peroxide is sold in brown bottles. It’s a great addition to your green cleaning supplies. Use it as a disinfectant, on your tile grout, on your floors, or as a bleach replacement in your laundry. I’ve even poured it down our bathroom sink drain. Here’s a great article about using hydrogen peroxide as a cleaning tool.

But I’m not giving up on my orange vinegar — it’s the best on a linoleum floor.

Oven Ordeal

Pour it into a spray bottle…

Clean Kitchen floor!

113. If it’s Worth Doing; or, A Treatise on fixing other people’s mistakes

August 14, 2014August 30, 2015 / Apple Hill Cottage / 18 Comments

The DIY era is generally considered a good thing, right? In this age of instant how-to information, anyone can do anything.

And lately I’ve been wondering if that is a good thing.

I’ve had lots of time to think on this. In fixing up two old houses, Mr. H. C. and I have also been fixing other peoples mistakes. And all the time I’m thinking, ‘If you couldn’t do it right, you should have called a professional!’

The running joke at the cottage is that it was wired by Joe’s Electric. And we laugh and say its a good thing Joe was Mr. H. C.’s dad, otherwise he would come in for a lot of criticism.

Here at the city house we aren’t related to the painting crew that was here before we bought the house; consequently, the former owner has definitely been criticized. Several times. The painting crew must have been made up of ten year olds — nothing against ten year olds — and much of the other work done on the house was slipshod as well. But since I’m doing the painting, that’s what I’m noticing.

Whoever painted the basement took a giant brush and five gallons of gray latex basement paint and slopped it over everything. Door knobs. Door hinges. Metal floor drains. Electrical outlets and the covers. The lock and chain on the door. Not to mention the concrete floor.

There are slops, drips, and globs everywhere. Bristles from the brush left in the dried paint. Corners of trim left unpainted because it was, well, hard. And suddenly, it is my issue. If I just paint over the mess, now I’ve become the sloppy painter that I’m criticizing. And frankly? I don’t want the next owner complaining about me and my workmanship.

Any DIY-er knows to take off door hardware when the door is painted. Don’t they?
Any DIY-er knows to never use latex paint on metal. Don’t they?
Any DIY-er knows not to use oil-based paint on top of something already painted in latex. Don’t they?
Any DIY-er knows to take stray bristles out of the wet paint before it dries. Don’t they?

This is what worries me. What if the DIY trend is just acceptable mediocrity under the guise of pride in accomplishment?

I’m a DIY-er from way back — I helped build my first house starting in 1978, before the first Home Depot even opened its doors — so I’m including myself in this. In the interest of saving money, or pride in accomplishment, or whatever else drives us to do it ourselves, are we accepting a lesser quality than hiring someone who knows how to do it really well?

A few weeks back a blogger posted a photo of a coffee table she had painted. It looked lovely, though the photo was taken outside and there were shadows on the table. A professional furniture painter commented (very rudely) that regular people should not take on projects they can’t do.

Rudeness and Inappropriateness aside, I get what he meant. He is a professional who has honed his skill for many years and is trying to make money at it. And here come the amateurs saying Hey. We can do that! Let’s just buy some chalk paint. Or better yet, let’s make our own…

My chalk-painted chairs, $5 each from St. Vinnie’s, and painted with DIY chalk paint.

I’ve done it. In fact, I do it all the time. Why should I pay someone else money when I might be able to do it?

Do you think it might be part of our national character? After all, most all Americans came here from somewhere else because someone we’re related to thought they could do better themselves.

But I digress.

As a recovering perfectionist (and married to one who is not yet recovered) I suggest that if a thing is worth doing yourself, it’s worth doing well.

Mr. H. C. is a professional who has been called in many times to rescue homeowners who got in over their heads. And I think it’s great that they had the humility to admit they couldn’t do it. I wish the former owner of our city house had called in some professionals.

When Mr. H. C. considers doing something sub-standard, he usually says, “No, it’s against my morals to do that.” I ~~always~~ usually smile when he says that, because, really? That’s the way everyone should work all the time. No matter what you are being paid, no matter who you are doing the work for, no matter how much (or how little) time you have to do the project. It should be “against our morals” to do sub-standard or sloppy or careless work.

If not for yourself, at least for the people who come after you, who have to fix your mistakes…

109. A Light for your Path, Part 2 : Rewiring old lamps

June 26, 2014July 1, 2014 / Apple Hill Cottage / Leave a comment

This post is the second part of a series on old lamps. The first was painting; this one will show you how to rewire an old lamp.

Disclaimer: Some people don’t want to tackle lamps and that’s okay. Truthfully, if I didn’t have my handy Mr.H.C. handy, I might not have tried it either. Safety first! If you are hesitant, don’t try this at home. :-)

For this project I bought the kit that included a new lamp cord; my local hardware store actually had more selection of lamp repair parts than the big box stores.

If you don’t have a lamp to repair, quickly run out to your favorite junque shop and get one. I’ll wait. Don’t spend more than $10 because you will have to buy a lampshade and that’s where you will want to splurge. (If you’ve tested your lamp and it works, that’s great! Maybe all you have to do is paint it or spruce it up. The last time I bought a lamp, we tested it at the store, it worked great, and three days later is stopped working. So…) Stop by a hardware store and buy a lamp rewiring kit, too. Then you can use all new parts.

I am making two assumptions here: 1. You have made sure that it isn’t just a burned out light bulb; and 2. You have unplugged the lamp from any electrical outlet. Okay, let’s get started.

You need a basic screwdriver, a wire stripper, a sharpie, and if you (or someone in your household) have a continuity tester you can use it, but it isn’t necessary. The goofy looking tool is a wire stripper. We’ll look closer at it later.

Let’s review Tip # 2 from the last post:
Tip # 2. When taking apart a lamp, especially if you are doing this for the first time, remember how it goes back together. Put all your parts together in a big tin can, or place them somewhere in a line to help you remember what washer goes on what nut.

I was very careful to keep all the pieces together in a tin can, but still, I lost a nut… Luckily nuts are easy to come by in this house…

Lamp repair

Mr. H.C. is providing the technical expertise for this post. (That’s one reason I’m writing it: so I’ll have a written record for myself so I can go back and look it over without having to bug him about every little thing.) One other thing: sometimes rewiring requires three hands. See if you can find a spare one around the house somewhere…

Tools and Basics

First let’s look at sockets. You can buy them as a push switch, a turn knob, a three way turn knob, and most of them have a little pull chain option if you’d like to be very retro. It looks like this in the package, but comes apart into 4 pieces. If you are taking the lamp all apart to paint it, you should just replace everything old with new.

Here are the 4 pieces of the socket: the base, the cover or shell, the cardboard insulator, and the socket/switch. Lamp socket

The new one will come in pieces; the old one on your lamp will have to come apart. On the shell, usually next to the switch, is some unreadable writing. It says Press. You are supposed to be able to press the cover in and release it from the base. Sometimes it works, but if the socket is old, it could be corroded or electrified together, and you may have to press and pry with a screwdriver at the same time.

This is the new socket/switch, so there is no wiring attached to it yet.

Don’t you hate it when DIY posts have photos of clean hands? Yep, so do I.

Let’s take a break for a minute and examine the socket/switch. In the left photo the screw is silver — this is the neutral screw; on the right, the screw is brass — this is the positive, or hot screw.

This wire is marked which side is the hot wire. This wire is new and the tips are nicely soldered together.

Lamp cords are made of two stranded wires, the neutral and the hot wires. The hot wires must be attached to the hot screw and the neutral wires must go the neutral screw. Lamp cords generally aren’t marked as to which side is which; when you take off the wire from the hot screw, it might be helpful to mark that side with a sharpie or nail polish — something to let you know which is the hot wire. If you have a handy dandy continuity tester you can use it here, but there are other ways to determine which is the hot wire. See Tip #1.
Tip # 1: The plug on a lamp cord has two prongs and one is larger than the other. This is the neutral or ground prong. If you straighten the wire and follow the cord up, that section of wire is the neutral wire. Conversely, if you follow the section of wire up from the smaller prong, that’s the hot wire.

The U-shaped piece of metal under the socket is the base for the harp which holds the lampshade. This is the American style of lamp shade holder, so it’s likely your lamp has one. Don’t forget to put it back on before the socket.

The cord goes down through the lamp in a hollow metal tube with threads on each end. At the base of the inside of the lamp tube is a nut holding the whole thing together. The top of the lamp tube is screwed into the base of the socket we just took apart. Consequently, when you unscrew the socket base, you might just unscrew the whole tube. Yes, I’ve done it. (If you are taking it all apart to paint it, you’re going to replace everything anyway, so don’t worry — this is only tricky when you are just repairing a lamp.)

Putting it Back Together

Put the cord through the hole in the bottom of the lamp, then through the threaded tube, putting the lamp pieces together as you go. Every lamp is different; the lamp I painted had three pieces and one long tube that connected them all inside. Many lamps are just one piece with a short threaded tube just below the socket. Make sure to leave plenty of wire out the bottom of the lamp to plug it in. After the wire is all the way up the tube and into the base of the socket, you only need a few inches of cord.

Tip # 2: Mr. H.C. says I can’t leave this out: When the base of the socket has to be reattached to the lamp, twist the cord in the opposite direction — counter-clockwise — about six times (just by hand). This is to keep the cord from kinking while you are screwing the base of the socket into the lamp.

This cord has the hot wire marked; the strands of wire are nicely soldered, so they just have to be curved around the correct screw and the screw tightened. Also note the underwriter’s knot in the cord.

Lamp cord is generally 18 gauge, and if you look on the wire strippers there are numbers that correspond to the size of cord to be cut.

Once the cord is through the socket base, and the socket base is back on the lamp, you have to split the two sections of cord and uncover those strands of wires. This is where you need the wire strippers. The goal is to just cut through the plastic of the cord and not cut any of the wires. Put the cord in the correct notch of the wire strippers and squeeze gently; then with an upward motion just peel that plastic off.

Tip # 3: Each and every one of those strands is important. If you cut any of them accidentally, move down the wire a bit and try again.

After you have prepared the wire ends, split the cord a little further and tie a knot in the cord so it won’t slip off the screws. There is a cool knot, called an underwriter’s knot that is generally used. It looks like the symbol for infinity, and See Jane Drill has a great video on how to learn to tie it. It’s simple and it looks like this.
Underwriter's knot

Close up of lamp wires If the strands of wire are not soldered, they have to be neatly twisted together before they can be wrapped around the screw. Twist them together in a clockwise fashion and bend the wires into a half-circle that will fit easily around the screw. Once you have the wires in place with the correct screws, tighten the screws, and put the socket back together. Remember in Tip # 2 above we talked about how important those strands of wire are? Here as well — if any stray wires end up sticking out around the screws, unscrew them, retwist the wires, and try again. (If you are using a new cord, chances are this is already done for you — another reason to buy the whole kit and just replace everything.)

All that is left is to fit the harp over the harp base, choose a lightbulb (that is a feat in and of itself these days…) and go buy a lampshade.

And now I will confess that I wish I had written this post before I started. And one more thing … if the lamp flickers when you turn it on, don’t use it. Turn it off and seek electrical guidance from a local lamp guru, an electrical expert, a polished professional, a guiding light in the field of lamp repair. Okay, sorry. Mr. H.C. says I shouldn’t make jokes about this being a shocking experience.

If you need more information or my instructions are as clear as mud, here are a couple of web sites that go into great detail (they also use photos of clean, nicely manicured hands): How to Repair a Faulty Lamp for Dummies or Family Handyman’s How to Repair a Table Lamp. But again, I think totally rewiring is easier than repairing. Just my opinion…

And my lamp? I totally changed my mind and went with a creamy linen shade. I don’t always like to get white shades because my walls are mostly off-white and I don’t want the shade to disappear against the wall. But the mirror behind the lamp changes all that. What do you think?